Video: Corvette Mako Shark II TV Commercial

Four years after Bill Mitchell’s Mako Shark concept car was introduced, the car was reborn in 1965 as the Mako Shark II. While publicly displayed as a show car, and carrying many interesting features that would never make it to production, the overall styling of the Mako Shark II became the mold for the next generation Corvette.

When the 1968 Corvette appeared, the end result was very close to the Mako Shark II concept, at least from the belt line down. The overall shape of the two was similar, but the production Corvette had softer contours.

Testing had found that the stylish extremes of the Mako II had undesirable consequences and so, for production, the nose was raised and the upper fender lines were dropped. The resulting issues of body lift and visibility were resolved and a front air dam kept the nose under control.

There were two versions of the car built. One was a non-powered “pushmobile” used for show purposes and the second was a driver for Mitchell when not away on other duties. It is said that Mitchell had more than fifty special GM cars built for his use during his career as head of the Styling department.

The GM promotional spot below provides many details about the car that are often ignored in other records of the car.